Increase Your Awareness
Develop Your Whole Character
The process of seeking added depth requires one to increase one’s levels of awareness: the kind of increased consciousness that comes by adding depth to one’s whole character. By “whole character” I mean both aspects of one’s own inner realm (Interiority) and one’s own behaviors and physical systems (the “real world” of Exteriority that appears to be “outside” of the mind and is both physiological and social). As we shall see, the hemisphere of “Interiority” is where one adds new levels of consciousness (either in intentions or in ethics) and the hemisphere of “Exteriority” is where one adds new levels of form (either in behaviors or in tangible physical systems).
Whether one is considering the internal realm of consciousness or the external realm of form, the process of moving up to the next level (stage of development) is the process of adding depth. Evolution adds depth by a three-part process of transcendence. This process involves fusing aspects of form and consciousness at one level, then differentiating and moving them up to the next level plus including all the aspects of the previous levels, and finally integrating the new level with the preceding levels.
The Heartwood Path mimics evolution’s process of transcendence. With more layers of depth included in one’s character, one becomes more vital. One matters more as the added layers of depth impart higher levels of intentions, ethics, behaviors, and physical systems that can be used to help one’s self and others. This vitality is spurred as one’s awareness expands to include a broader, more holistic view. This critically important process of adding depth to your own character – described throughout the pages that follow–enables you to be better prepared to help yourself and others without crashing.
You will become better prepared to help without crashing as a result of engaging in the activities at the waypoints along the Heartwood Path. In visiting these waypoints, novice trekkers tend to pack too much. The next series of activities will help you continue to unload your burdens and release your false perceptions. The letting go you will be working on will shift from unloading wants to clearing “space” so that you can walk the path unencumbered and, therefore, more easily reveal your own Authentic Self, a self that mirrors one’s uncluttered source.
